Khotan Painted Orange by Sandstorms [Video]

On Friday morning, March 12, an orange tsunami of sand came rolling in from Xinjiang's Taklamakan Desert toward Khotan (Hotan) county.  Now, three days later, the city is still painted orange and according to Chinese meteorologist it might not let up until Tuesday.

This CCTV news clip shows the unbelievable lack of visibility that a sandstorm can cause and how it was able cripple a city for an entire weekend:

Some of the comments from the video translated:

• "I haven't seen a wind this strong for decades"
• "Today's winds were terribly violent making driving a car difficult.  We all have to turn on our lights on the road and move slowly.  I went from the airport earlier and it took me a whole hour" [note: the airport is only 10km outside town].

According to the "Worst Case Scenario", the best ways to survive a sandstorm are to:

1. Wear a bandanna over your face
2. Stay in a group
3. Pull your car off the road

Interestingly, not only are all of these suggestions not present in the video, the news anchor actually stands in the middle of the road to report!   If only the residents of Hotan had access to the internet they would be able to read how to stay safe.

Sources:
  Xinhua:  新疆和田地区发生强沙尘暴 (Chinese)
  PressTV: Zero Visibility Storm Hits Western China